


Come Dawn

by SalamanderInk



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable Loki (Marvel), Anxiety, Bored Loki, Exhaustion, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, M/M, Morning Cuddles, Morning Kisses, Sleep Deprivation, Tony Stark Needs Sleep, mornings are evil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalamanderInk/pseuds/SalamanderInk
Summary: Sometimes, everything gets too much and Tony can't do anything but shut himself off in his lab and work himself to exhaustion. Work and work until even his mind is too tired to keep him from sleep, his sight too blurry to recognize the ghosts of his past in his wake. Sleep becomes a blissful oblivion.But mornings are evil, and when your lover is the God of Mischief, there's only so much you can do to avoid being dragged out of bed as soon as you awaken.In that case, cunning is required.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 109





	Come Dawn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NamelesslyNightlock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/gifts), [QuietCanadian9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietCanadian9/gifts), [Rabentochter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/gifts).



> This is once again prompted by the magnificent Lou and inspired by Maggie's evilness. Let's blame them both for this.  
> Thanks to Sesil who betaed my fic to catch the most obvious typos and Jax who gave me some help with the summary. You guys rock!

Tired. So tired. 

Tony could feel the sluggishness dragging at his limbs, pulse weak as his head felt too light and yet throbbing with heat at the same time. It had been a long time since he’d last let himself be so exhausted. Living in the Tower with all the other Avengers had mellowed him and drew him into the semblance of a normal schedule without him even noticing. 

But not even the steady presence of Captain Good-cheer and Brucie Green-bean could ward off his nightmares forever. 

He didn’t know how long he’d been down in his lab, he’d asked Jarvis to fend off any potential guilt-tripping and mother-henning, and that meant most people who would actually stop his inventing binge. 

Empty coffee cups were piling on his bench, with a few still half full of now cold sludge. Caffeine had long stopped having any kind of effect on him. The music playing at full blast in the shop had started to sound distorted, a background buzz that he could hardly even discern any longer. 

In the end, it was exhaustion that stopped him, his sight blurring and hands shaking from fatigue instead of fear, the way his heart started beating just a tad bit too erratically to feel safe for someone who relied so heavily on a prosthesis, the world tilting dangerously when he stood from his workbench. He felt cold, as though the claws of space had dug under his skin, raising goosebumps in their wake, and yet he was feverish. 

He’d pushed himself too much. 

But the ghosts were still haunting him, bone fingers gripping at his clothes, hopeless pleas ringing again and again in his ears. The void was too close, yawning gaps just on the edge of his sight, waiting, watching, calling to him. In his delirium, he could imagine that it was angry at his escape, that it wanted to drag him back to its deadly and frozen embrace. 

So many lives he could not save. So many that he’d killed. 

He was shaking as he shut down the holos, the world suddenly thrown into darkness as his tired eyes attempted to adjust to the reduced luminosity. 

Everything felt tinted with the orange afterimage that came from staring at blue lights for too long. He blinked, once, twice, and once more. Jarvis had helpfully lit the LED path that led to his room, a discreet way for his half-blind and exhausted self to find his way easily. The trudge to his bed was harrowing, but finally being able to flop down on the memory foam was pure bliss. The sheets were freshly changed, the smell of laundry mixing strangely with Tony’s own blend of machinery and sweat. He should probably take a shower, but the mere prospect was too daunting to consider. 

He’d fallen asleep before he finished the argument. 

*

There was nothing in the entire world more foul and dreadful and terrible and  _ annoying _ than  _ mornings. _

The light was too bright, vague noise of life from outside his door, and  _ Tony should not be awake. _ Why was he awake? 

His limbs felt heavy, leaden, pins and needles paralysing him when he dared try to move, head aching and pulsing with the rush of adrenaline that sent his heart on a sprint while he was too horizontal to properly need so much pressure, and his mind was terribly, dreadfully  _ awake.  _

At least as much as it could be without three mugs full of coffee. 

He groaned, hoping beyond hope that the terrible and blissful embrace of sleep would come back… 

And then a warm weight slumped over his back, a cold nose burying itself in his neck. 

There would be no respite found there. 

“Anthonyyyy…”

Tony grunted, the exhaustion pulling at his bones turning his disposition toward anything that interrupted his rest decidedly sour, and yet he knew somehow that Loki had waited  _ semi- _ patiently before coming there, waited until Tony was no longer busy in his lab, until he was no longer asleep, no longer plagued by dark thoughts that made him want to throw everyone away. He’d been downright considerate, all things considered. 

But not considerate enough to let Tony go back to sleep. 

Tony groaned, halfway between grumpy and desperate. It was too early. The entire day was too early. His blankets were cosily warm,  _ soft.  _ He didn’t ever want to get up, and get back to the real world where there was always too many things to do, too many responsibilities weighing on him, too much pressure and bustle and  _ people.  _ He burrowed deeper into the warmth, the urge to ignore the rest of the world winning over any lingering guilt he could feel at his improductivity. 

Loki could wait. He’d waited this long, after all, he could definitely give Tony five more minutes. 

But apparently, Loki could  _ not _ give him five more minutes. His answering sigh could only be described as  _ tragic, _ a despondent huff that would truly be heartbreaking if Tony wasn’t aware of how much of a drama queen his lover could be. 

He hummed instead, extending the willpower required to shuffle to the side and turn to face Loki. 

His eyes felt dry and oversensitive, light drilling into them and sending bolts of pain through his skull, but Tony smiled anyways. Any day that started with Loki at his side was a good day. 

Even when said God of Mischief looked despondent enough to go about stabbing people just to cheer himself up. 

“Anthony, come  _ on!  _ Everything is so  _ boring _ without you here.”

Loki’s voice wasn’t quite a whine, but only just. His usually polished accent was instead muffled against Tony’s shoulder as green eyes peeked up at him through his lashes. 

“Come, make some mischief with me? Please, my heart? I’ll give you coffee?”

The offer was tempting, truly, and Loki’s pleading eyes certainly made it even more enticing. But Tony truly did not want to leave his bed, his limbs were sore and sluggish and the mere prospect of standing felt insurmountable. 

But, then, not all sorts of  _ mischief _ needed him to stand. 

Curling an arm around his lover’s neck, Tony smiled tenderly. Some days, the nightmares were too much, a plague that shadowed his mind and crawled through his bones, poisoning him with such terror that he could only dread that it would spill over onto everyone around. 

But the rest of the days, he only needed to look into Loki’s green eyes, the warmth and the trust shining in them, the warm weight of his body pressed against his, and he remembered himself, his strength, remembered that here, in the present he had nothing more to fear. 

So Tony smiled, tired but peaceful, tender but  _ impish _ as he pulled Loki closer and caught his love’s surprised yelp into a kiss. 

_ Mischief. _

He was promised coffee for it, after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to drop a comment telling me what you thought! I hope youenjoyed <3


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